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Ask HN: Is there a design term for deliberately making a UI more frustrating?

1 points by morellt 23 days ago · 5 comments · 1 min read


Context: This applies to functions such as email newsletters making you click as many times as possible before finally unsubscribing or Instagram deterring people from removing all of their likes by not including a "select all" button. When I google this concept, the only results I get are "Planned Obsolescence".

begemotz 23 days ago

To elaborate on comments below; I agree that the correct term is "dark patterns". And, one common form of dark pattern is to increase "friction" - to slow down or make more difficult what the user is trying to do (or in other cases, reduce friction "buy now, pay later").

JohnFen 23 days ago

I would call your examples "dark patterns".

TimedToasts 23 days ago

A word I hear thrown around often is "friction"

pwg 23 days ago

It's related to "Enshittification" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification) but that term does cover more than just making something they would prefer you not do a confusing labyrinth to deter you from actually doing it.

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